Man Shot and Killed in Ocala

Published November 14th, 2013

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OCALA-

A 28- year- old man is dead and now officers are on the hunt for his killer.Early Thursday morning residents of Ocala reported hearing gun shots.

Soon after a man shows up at a hospital with a gunshot wound.Right now detectives aren't releasing the location where 28 -year-old Samuel Lee Washington was shot.There is still no confirmation on if the shooting started in one part of town and then moved to another area.

" Then I looked over here, I got a bullet hole by my window," said Diane Richardson.

Early Thursday morning, a bullet struck Richardson's home on Northwest Fourth Street in Ocala.Richardson and her grandchildren were inside the house at the time of the shooting, but no one was hit.Just across the street at her neighbors house, you can see a bullet ricocheted into the home.

"I know those children in those homes and that frightens me that they were in danger because of someone's careless mistake," said Amanda Rosenbloom who lives near Richardson.

Gunshots also were fired just a mile away. Just after 2:30 a.m. the Ocala Police Department received calls of shots fired in this area on Southwest 19th Avenue and Southwest First street.

"So officers are responding to both locations at the time attempting to locate anyone in the area who may have been firing off guns," said Sgt. Angy Scroble with the Ocala Police Department.

Suddenly OPD receives another call.

"We got a call at about 2:55 a.m. that there is a subject who has arrived at the hospital emergency room with a gunshot wound," said Sgt. Scroble.

Washington died about an hour after he arrived at the hospital.Now detectives are trying to find out the location where Washington was shot and if the incidents are connected.On Thursday morning OPD detectives were collecting two shell casings that were in the middle of the road on Northwest Fourth Street.Amanda Rosenbloom said she hears gunshots in her neighborhood almost every week.

"That's what scares me the most is that these people don't get caught because no one hears anything. Supposedly," said Rosenbloom.

Officials said Washington is from the Georgia area and had only been living in Ocala for the past year.Anyone with information should call the Ocala Police Department.